[newsprint plant. The bosses blame the overvalued pound…]

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newsprint plant.

The bosses blame the overvalued pound which has prevented a rise in the price of newsprint for 3½ years. Imported newsprint, particularly from North America and Scandinavia, costs £40 a ton less than British newsprint, largely due to high energy costs which are as much as twice as high as they are in foreign newsprint industries.

Joint approach

The subsequent announce. ment of further redundancies by Reid, another major paper manufacturer, underlines the threat to jobs in the paper Bill Keys, general secretary of SOGAT blamed government policies for the redundancies and said that his union would fight the redundancies.

"I have made it quite clear to Bowater chairman that we are not going to accept this closure. I don't preclude any form of action to save these jobs, they're not going to get There is no way that Keys is going to act on the implications of his statement and lead a struggle against the Tories' monetarist policies.

Challenged on BBC's PM programme about his threats to close Fleet Street in the struggle to prevent the closure oi Bowater an angry sounding More job Engineering stewards at Hoovers in Camburslang in Scotland have called for resistance to redundancies.

The company is demanding the axe for 160 jobs out of a total of 2,000. Although the stewards are pledged to fight they have not yet prepared a plan to defeat the company.

*Great Universal stores have swallowed the mail order firm, John Myers, on the condition that Myers axe 1,900 jobs. USDAW deputy general secretary John Flood, described the thrown out if jobs are to be saved-something Keys himself absolutely refuses to do.

*In a tragi-comic response to the job massacre, Bowater workers have agreed to pay for advertisements in national newspapers to tell the public about the crisis in paper making.

decision as *mind boggling' and asked the cr impany for 'statistical evidence to support the mass sackings.

*More than 4,000 clerical workers in BL are to lose their jobs as the Edwardes axe swung from the production line to the office blocks.

*Doug Daniels, 1 Manchester North Secretary of the AUEW said the union would fight the plan to make several hundred workers out of 2,450 at L. Gardner and Sons redundant. No strategy has been put forward to save the jobs in the diesel engine firm.

The strike was given immediate official backing by the NUJ executive. Print unions have agreed to refuse to handle any scab copy.

But Sunday Times journalists-who have a separate agreement-have refused to join the strike and has 'deferred' a final offering up to £20,000 each to buy out casual shift workers.

This is the reason for their intransigence and for the threat by Thomson Newspapers to shut the Times.

Meanwhile following the NGA instructions to their Observer chapel to abandon For a clear £8.00 ,14.00 £9.00 £10.00 Workers at the Lucas CAV plant in Acton came back from their annual holiday to the announcement of more redundancies.

Two departments had already been shut down in the last few months and the management have just announced the drastic run-down of a third.

Unit 5 is part of the parts and service business, employing about 130 people from whom 60 redundancies are now being demanded. If enough volunteers are not forthcoming by the end of September compulsory redundancies will follow.

Shop stewards have been told that other sections are also under review. No worker in the plant can feel that their job is safe.

It is vital that the unions break from their policy of cooperation with the run down of the plant. The ' increasing number of fascist and racist attacks and provocations in the area is partly due to the level of youth unemployment.

As well as the fight on jjobs, the unions in all of the Lucas plants must get together to plan a campaign of action to force the employer to raise its 10% wage offer.

At present, Lucas are refusing to negotiate on this figure. Only if the plants form a combine committee to organise a combine-wide fight will it be possible to shift them from their position. The present 'wait and see' attitude of some of the plants can only result in them becoming demoralised.

ST. BENEDICTS

HOSPITAL MASS PICKET Tuesday 2 September 6pm to 8pm St. Benedicts Hospital Church Lane, Tooting LONDON SW17 Tube: Tooting Broadway

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lead in the struggle against wage control, cuts and redundancies